One of our newer owners, Thomas Winder, has a bit of a love-in with Born To Finish and who can blame him!

WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE JOCKEY?

I would have to say it is Ryan Moore from a riding perspective – there is no one else I would rather have on a horse when money is on the line (sorry Dougie).

In terms of entertainment, I used to enjoy watching Mikael Barzalona. I am not sure there are many other jockeys who would have the nerve to cross the line in the Epsom Epsom Derby, while bolt upright, whip aloft, winning by a mere head!

I am a big fan of At The Races and in particularly Friday Night “Get In!” Jason Weaver and Luke Harvey are a credit to racing and I was really pleased to see Luke get a spot on the ITV racing team and then top the year off by winning Racing Broadcaster of the Year.

Close in third would be Matt Chapman. I realise he almost definitely isn’t everyone’s kettle of fish but for me, whatever happened behind the scenes of Dancing on Ice, the result is very much their loss.

Also need to give a shout-out to The Racing Blogger (Twitter @racingblogger). Met him on Saturday at Kempton and had a good chat about racing – he is a top man who promotes personal wellbeing and wants the best for racing, that can only be a good thing!

WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE ALL TIME HORSE?

I guess this question should have an “apart from Born To Finish” caveat on the end, otherwise it is an easy one!

Having only followed racing for around 6 years, it’s a fairly short window to choose from. My choice, albeit not very original, has to be Frankel. Even as a relative novice to watching racing I couldn’t help but get a tingle down my spine watching him beat Cirrus Des Aigles in the 2012 Champion Stakes.

FIRST EVER EXPERIENCE OF RACING?

According to my Mum that would be Goodwood at the age of two but I have no recollection of that! Therefore it would have to be at University, as it was there my friend introduced me to racing. I remember a crowd of us going to the St Ledger meeting of 2012, where everyone was talking about some “Triple Crown” thing!

In the first race my friend managed to pick out Quick Wit (a name that sticks in the mind ever since) who won fairly easily at 6/1 – I thought the game must be easy. Up next was an odds-on favourite, Dundonnell, in what was essentially a match against a horse called Toronado. We all had a fair whack on Dundonnell on the basis “how can something at odds-on get beaten?” Subsequent exploits show it was Toronado who should’ve been odds-on!

Finally Camelot failed to get the better of Encke at 25/1 in the Leger itself and so it was fair to say, looking back, that was quite a card!

WHY GET INVOLVED IN RACEHORSE OWNERSHIP?

I must admit I hadn’t really given it much thought as everyone had told me how expensive it was. I was just scrolling through Facebook one day and saw the Crowd Racing advert so thought I would have a look. Rather impulsively, I put in my card details and that was that – I was a race horse owner and what a great decision that was!

WHICH RACECOURSE / RACE THAT YOU ARE YET TO ATTEND, WOULD YOU LIKE TO ATTEND?

I am not as well-travelled as I would like to be in terms of racecourses. I am fairly blessed to live in the South East where lots of cracking tracks are on the doorstep; Ascot, Kempton and Sandown to name just three. Therefore, the list of racecourses to attend is pretty long but right at the top has to be Santa Anita for the Breeders Cup – it looks so good on television.

WHICH HORSE CURRENTLY IN TRAINING WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO OWN?

This is a tricky one as there are so many top horses around! I have a soft spot for Might Bite having backed him in pretty much every race he has ever run and watched him win the King George on Boxing Day so he would be it from the National Hunt scene.

The flat season seems like a distant memory so I would have to come back to you on that one, although the same caveat above applies “apart from Born To Finish”!

RACE YOU WOULD LIKE TO OWN THE WINNER OF THE MOST?

Given the above, if someone were to donate me a share in Might Bite and he went onto win the Gold Cup, that would be lovely. Failing that, I think it would have to be the Derby, as it is surely still the best thoroughbred race in the world.

FAVOURITE RACE COURSE?

We go to Kempton on Boxing Day as a family each year and it is always a brilliant day out. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the plans for the redevelopment early last year. I haven’t seen anything since but it would be a real shame if the plans go ahead.

WHAT IRKS YOU MOST IN RACING?

Probably not completely isolated to racing but the power of the big online bookmakers is surely not right. I don’t see how it is a level playing field, bookmaker vs. punter when they have the power to restrict your account or even ban you after a few wins

WHAT HAS BEEN THE MOST POSITIVE CHANGE IN RECENT RACING?

The introduction of the publication of horses who have had wind surgery can only be positive as you should have all of the facts available before putting down your hard earned.

WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FACED BY RACING?

This has to be interest, specifically getting people through the gates. The traditionalists need to accept having more people through the gates can only be good for the sport, even if that means there is an artist/DJ playing after and you may get on or two who have had one too many.

On a similar subject, the decision to switch the rights for the Irish racing (and Chelmsford) to Racing UK is difficult to take. I appreciate there are higher powers at work and the commercial terms must be far more lucrative but as a racing fan, this is really a big blow. I subscribed to Racing UK previously and found the coverage mundane and boring – I would much rather watch At The Races every day of the week!

IF YOU COULD SEND ANY MARE TO ANY STALLION, WHICH COMBINATION WOULD YOU LIKE TO OWN?

This would have to be Black Caviar and Frankel – surely they would produce a champion?

BEST EXPERIENCE AS AN OWNER TO DATE?

On Saturday I spent the afternoon at Ascot, watching a potential superstar in Waiting Patiently win the BetFair Chase. I then hopped it over to Kempton Park to watch another superstar in Born To Finish do his thing. I had probably had a few too many beers by the time of the race and have to admit I couldn’t really see what was happening but I heard the commentator call him as finishing fastest and getting up – cue pure jubilation!

MORE INFORMATION

For more information on how Crowd Racing works, what you can expect from being involved or if you have any questions whatsoever, please click one of the buttons below.
There is a lot of information in the FAQ, and in our Blog or feel free to contact Craig directly.

Welcome to Crowd Racing

Crowd Racing is one of the UK’s most innovative Racehorse Ownership and Experience companies.

We offer ownership shares in racehorses and racehorse ownership experiences in the UK and Europe, via our "Crowds". By joining a Crowd, you will become a registered owner of that racehorse for a fixed period of time, for a fixed cost. At the end of the period, you will get to vote on whether we keep the horse(s) but will never be committed to remaining as part of that Crowd irrespective of the vote result.

Crowd Racing offers various ownership packages on a transparent, one-off cost basis with no hidden charges.

Depending on the level of package purchased, share owners received a variety of racehorse owner benefits; All owners are entitled to their pro-rata share of prize-money and re-sale of the horse at the end of the defined period.

We also offer a totally free to join Racing Club, The Crowd Racing Club.

We have well over 300 owners involved in Crowd Racing, and many of them are involved in multiple horses. Our customers retention levels are above 90%, so we know we are doing a lot right, but we are constantly looking to improve.

We embrace new technology to find better and more innovative ways to communicate and deliver better for our owners, and we thrive on listening to the feedback of those that matter the most;

While we will always strive to buy racehorses for our owners which will win races and increase in value, the costs involved in training and running a racehorse plus the relatively low levels of prize money in the UK, make showing an upside on the initial investment made by owners very difficult and somewhat rare.

Shares bought in horses via Crowd Racing, should always be viewed as a social investment with no expectation of any financial upside. We can guarantee you will love being involved and have some wonderful experiences but we cannot guarantee you will make money.